In 1997, Tom Cruise attended the funeral for Diana, Princess of Wales. It makes his support for one of Prince William's patronages all the more meaningful.
The Crown took creative liberties and introduced Kate Middleton as a character, but her meeting with Princess Diana never happened in real life. The series reached recent history in its final season, covering events like Princess Diana's tragic car crash and Prince William meeting Kate Middleton in 2001.
At the London premiere of Apollo 13, Diana met Oscar winner Tom Hanks, his wife Rita Wilson, and the movie's director Ron Howard. Just by this picture, we can already tell how starstruck Howard was!
Diana became Princess of Wales aged 20 when she married Charles, then 32, on 29 July 1981. The wedding was held at St Paul's Cathedral, which offered more seating than Westminster Abbey, a church that was generally used for royal weddings.
Camilla was some 14 years older than Diana, so it's unsurprising that the 19 year old looked to her for advice. In fact Camilla was a closer contemporary of Diana's older sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, who Charles also briefly dated.
The firefighter on the scene of Princess Diana's accident revealed the last words she spoke before her death in an interview with The Independent. According to the firefighter, Xavier Gourmelon, the Princess of Wales asked: “My God, what has happened?”
Diana had a list in her home that named people she intended to send Christmas cards to. That was used for the invitations to the funeral. She had met both Cruise and Hanks personally and presumably liked them, so I suppose that made some sense.
Prince Harry was told the news about his mother's accident by his father, Charles. Harry, now 39, wrote in his memoir Spare, released early this year, that he was woken up by his father and informed of the crash. "I remember waiting patiently for Pa to confirm that indeed Mummy was all right," Harry recalled.
According to Darren McGrady, Diana's former chef, Winfrey met with Diana at Kensington Palace to discuss the possible interview, which she reportedly said would be the “highlight of her career”. However, she lost out to Martin Bashir, who interviewed Diana for BBC show Panorama.
Michael and Carole Middleton, Kate's parents, wed over 40 years ago and soon after welcomed Kate and her siblings Pippa Middleton and James Middleton. The Middletons raised their children in Bucklebury, a village in West Berkshire, England, where they still live today.
In Omid Scobie's new book, 'Endgame', it suggests that Kate and Meghan were encouraged to dress like Diana so her 'shine could rub off on them' and the evidence speaks for itself. He added, “During the past thirteen years, Diana cosplay has become a royal staple.”
In King: The Life of Charles III, Christopher Andersen says Charles was "ashen and trembling" when he heard the news of Diana's death. "He let out a cry of pain that was so spontaneous and came from the heart. Palace staff rushed over to Charles' room and found him collapsed in an armchair, weeping uncontrollably."
Diana's former husband, sons, mother, siblings, a close friend, and a clergyman were present. Diana's body was clothed in a black long-sleeved, three-quarter length woollen cocktail dress designed by Catherine Walker which she had chosen some weeks before, a pair of black pantyhose, and a pair of black shoes.
Although you can't visit Diana's grave, Althorp is open to visitors during summers. You can look across the lake to the white memorial urn that glows among the lush greenery, and visit the lakeside temple dedicated to Diana and where visitors can leave tributes.
“I remember just feeling completely numb, disorientated, dizzy,” Prince William said in a 2017 BBC documentary on Diana's death, in which he appeared alongside Harry. “You feel very, very confused. And you keep asking yourself, 'Why me?
As depicted in Episode 4 of the sixth season of "The Crown," William walked into the woods in the days following Diana's death — at one point not returning to his residence for 14 hours, to the dismay of Charles, Harry and Elizabeth.
As the carriage carrying the late Princess of Wales' coffin was pulled past the royal family, Elizabeth dipped her head in a deep bow, an unprecedented sign of respect from a sitting monarch. It is thought to be the only time that Queen Elizabeth II ever bowed to anyone else during her time on the throne.
The 2007 inquiry conducted by Metropolitan Police found that while Fayed may have been planning a proposal, that evidence points to the conclusion that one did not take place, per CBS News. The ring was found at Fayed's flat, which Diana had not visited that day.
The couple had been seeing each other for just a few months before the tragic car accident took both of their lives. Princess Diana's romance with Dodi Fayed, the Egyptian-born film magnate, was just beginning when the two died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.
How did Diana die in a car crash? Diana suffered from a concussion, broken arm and a cut to her thigh in the crash, but what ultimately took her life were her severe chest wounds. Her heart was displaced in her chest and she suffered a tear to her pulmonary vein that proved lethal and caused internal bleeding.
"It was indeed dreadfully sad, and she is a huge loss to the country," Queen Elizabeth wrote to Lady Henriette Abel Smith, one of her ladies in waiting. "But the public reaction to her death, and the service in the Abbey, seem to have united people round the world in a rather inspiring way.
